How Can I Keep from Singing?
by PepperjackCandy
Summary: Futurefic -- October 16, 4001. Lex. Clark. Not necessarily as a couple.


Title: How Can I Keep From Singing?  
Author: PepperjackCandy  
Series: No  
Archive : SmallvilleImprov, my writing at fanfiction.net  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: Clark, Lex, probably not as a couple.  
Category: Friendship, Futurefic  
Spoilers for: Hourglass  
  
Improv #6: Futurefic  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.   
  
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.  
  
A/N: I know this hymn is done to death as a title, but DH was playing the Enya arrangement of it and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I looked up the lyrics and . . . well! . . . I couldn't pass it up.  
  
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/c/hcaikeep.htm  
  
Not really intended to be slash, but I do keep having tendencies that way when the boys are involved, so if you tilt your head just right, you might *not* see the HoYay.  
  
And, yes, I'm familiar with Vandal Savage. I'm just borrowing some of his shtick for Lex. ;-)  
  
=========  
  
October 16, 4001  
  
"Lex."  
  
Lex took off the headset that had been playing his incoming messages, but which was currently paused while he absorbed the latest bad news about his health. "Clark." He said without inflection.  
  
Clark looked much the same as he always had, black hair curling against his neck, piercing blue eyes peeking out from under his bangs. His body, still as buff as ever, was dressed in a skintight blue bodysuit. "You ready?"  
  
Lex nodded. "As always."  
  
Clark walked around to the other side of the table and sat down. Lex pressed a button set into the table.  
  
Moments later, several servants came in carrying trays. "Happy anniversary, Clark."  
  
"2000 years today. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?"  
  
Lex nodded distractedly.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Lex . . ."  
  
Lex sighed. They'd known each other for two millennia and he knew well that he couldn't hide anything from Clark. "It's my kidney."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"The right. I'm trying to decide if I can make do with just the left one. . . ."  
  
Clark's face went serious and the light in his eyes dimmed. "That's not for me to decide."  
  
"I know. It's my decision to make, but it's not an easy one. It never is."  
  
"I'm just glad that you've managed to avoid killing anyone for these . . . parts."  
  
Lex looked down at the plate in front of him.  
  
"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Clark prompted.  
  
Lex shook his head. "No. You're right. I've never had to kill anyone, but what's the old saying, 'there but for the grace of God . . .'?"  
  
Clark silently urged his friend to continue.  
  
"It was the last time I needed a heart. I had the donor all picked out, and was about to give the order for it to be harvested, but . . ." He took a deep breath. "Someone just as good died for reasons completely unrelated to my needs. A traffic accident."  
  
"Oh." Clark looked down at his plate.  
  
An uncomfortable silence settled over the two men.   
  
"You know I've never been anything but honest with you, Clark. Well, not for the last 1500 years or so, at least." Lex added as an afterthought.  
  
"I always ignore that, you know, 496 years in the middle -- the whole when-we-were-enemies thing. It's just . . . I'm having the weirdest experience."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You remember Cassandra?"  
  
"The crazy old lady who thought she could see the future?"  
  
"She could, Lex. She did. I saw it, too. I guess it was linked to the capacities of the meteors to boost people's psychic abilities."  
  
This was news to Lex. All he could say was, "Oh."  
  
"I saw gravestones, Lex. The graves of everyone I've ever known. Except one. Yours."  
  
Lex's eyebrows raised at this.  
  
"And can you imagine, Lex? Being alone for two thousand years? The endless loneliness?"  
  
"I think I can." Lex's eyes were sad, his tone desolate.  
  
Clark nodded. "It terrified me." Then he smiled. "But we're not alone. We have each other. To be there into the centuries ahead."  
  
Lex nodded. "Until death do us part." He said wryly, quoting text from a wedding ceremony belonging to a religion that only the two of them remembered.  
  
After the soft, shared laughter, Clark became solemn again. "I'm sorry about your kidney."  
  
"That's all right. It's just the one, and if I do decide to use someone else's, I'll pay the donor handsomely for it."  
  
"I know, but . . ."  
  
Lex nodded, understanding the sympathy in Clark's words. "Thank you." Then he smiled. "Well, I don't need to make that decision right now. However, something we do need to do right now is eat, before our food gets cold."  
  
end 


End file.
